Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Space Technology: Sutherland

lord birt: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the business case for creating a spaceport at A’Mhoine; andwhat is the anticipated cost per kilogram of satellite launched as compared with existing available alternative launchers.

lord henley: The Government has this week announced grant funding for a number of projects to kick-start the market for commercial spaceport in the UK, including to support Highlands and Islands Executive (HIE) to build a vertical launch spaceport on the A’Mhoine Peninsula, Sutherland. HIE’s proposal was put forward with its commercial partners and is held in confidence by the UK Space Agency. The cost per kilogram of launch from any spaceport will depend on a number of factors, including the launch vehicle and mission profile, that can only be assessed by a launch vehicle operator.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Russia: Chemical Weapons

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have had any communication with the government of Russia, its agencies or any intermediaries on the issues arising from events in Salisbury and Amesbury; and if not, why not.

viscount waverley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what specific questions they intend to put to the government of Russia or its agencies that would give possible insight into the events in Salisbury and Amesbury; and whether they intend to request assistance from that government.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The Prime Minister's statement in the House of Commons on 12 March set out the questions the former Foreign Secretary asked of the Russian Government when he summoned the Russian Ambassador to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office earlier that day. We still await a reply.

China: Middle East

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the government of China’s (1) offer of 100 million yuan in aid to the Palestinians reported on 10 July, and (2) proposal to form a strategic partnership with the Arab League to become the keeper of peace and stability in the Middle East.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Whilst we have not made any specific assessment of this issue, we are aware of the offer and will continue to monitor any developments.

Department of Health and Social Care

Pregnancy: Mental Illness

baroness hodgson of abinger: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to tackle the under-diagnosis of perinatal mental illness.

lord o'shaughnessy: This Government is committed to improving perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year, so that women are able to access the right care at the right time and close to home.The Department is investing £365 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 in perinatal mental health services, and NHS England is leading a transformation programme to ensure that by 2020/21 at least 30,000 more women each year are able to access evidence-based specialist mental health care during the perinatal period.Over £1.2 million was provided in 2017 to enable the training of primary care, maternity and mental health staff to increase awareness and skills related to perinatal mental health.

Podiatry

lord campbell-savours: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will fund an independent evaluation of the efficacy of laser equipment in the treatment of fungal infections by the podiatry profession, in order to assess the claims of some equipment manufacturers.

lord o'shaughnessy: Laser equipment, if presented by a manufacturer for the treatment of nail fungal infections, is a Class IIa medical device. As such, the manufacturer of the laser equipment is required to meet the requirements of the Medical Devices Regulations 2002. For a Class IIa device the manufacturer must have a quality management system in place and they must obtain the services of a Notified Body, who will assess the safety and performance of the device before issuing a CE certificate to the manufacturer for the products. The Notified Body assessment will include all aspects of the device, including verification of the manufacturer’s testing for the performance and safety of the device, the manufacturing processes and components of the device and review these in the light of the claims made by the manufacturer for the device concerned. As such, there are no plans to fund an independent evaluation, however concerns about the safety or performance of a medical device should be reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency who will investigate accordingly.

Social Services: Finance

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in preparing the forthcoming Green Paper on the future funding of adult social care, whether more emphasis will be placed on giving people greater control over the care they receive, and making paying for social care fairer and less dependent on the illness a person contracts.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Green Paper on Care and Support will include a focus on the principles of whole-person, integrated care and giving people receiving support the highest possible control.The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to the care and support they need, but we are clear that there should continue to be a principle of shared responsibility, and that people should continue to expect to contribute to their care as part of preparing for later life.The Green Paper will bring forward ideas for including an element of risk pooling in the system, which will help to protect people from the highest costs. This will include proposals to place a limit on the care costs individuals face.

Social Services: Finance

baroness redfern: To ask Her Majesty's Government, in preparing the forthcoming Green Paper on the future funding of adult social care, whether emphasis will be placed on personalised preventative medicine and Screening Saves Lives; and what plans they have to reduce the screening age from 60 to 50 years.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Green Paper on care and support will primarily focus on social care for older adults.In terms of personalised preventative medicine, NHS England introduced the general practitioner contract in 2017/18. This aims to support people to live well for longer, through identifying patients who may be living with frailty and ensuring that they have access to the key evidence-based interventions including a falls assessment and medications review.The Government is committed to providing well-managed screening programmes that are introduced following a robust process using peer reviewed evidence. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. The national cancer screening programmes in England include adult cancer screening programmes for cervical, breast and bowel cancer with varying age parameters, and any changes made to existing screening programmes will follow the UK NSC’s published evidence review process.

NHS: Productivity

lord warner: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord O'Shaughnessy on 4 July (HL8840), whether more up-to-date figures on NHS productivity than those for 2015–16 will be available from the Office for National Statistics before NHS England agrees a final assumption on NHS productivity for its next five-year funding plan; and if not, on what basis will NHS England calculate its productivity assumption.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Government expects the National Health Service’s long-term plan to be published later this year. This is ahead of the expected publication date of the Office for National Statistics’ English NHS productivity estimate for 2016-17 and therefore we do not expect these updated figures to be available before the final assumption on NHS productivity is agreed.One of the financial tests that the Government has set the NHS is to improve productivity and efficiency in order to put the service onto a more sustainable footing. We expect the NHS to set out how it plans to do this, and the final productivity target for the NHS will be agreed with the Government. The final assumption will take into account future opportunities to improve productivity across the NHS, identified through the development of the NHS’s long-term plan, as well as recent trends.

Department of Health and Social Care: Reviews

lord watts: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many independent reviewsthe Department of Health and Social Carehas commissioned into its policy or administration over the last year; and what was the total cost of those reviews.

lord o'shaughnessy: The information requested is not collected centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.

Medical Records: Databases

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plansthey haveto ensure that individual independent healthcare providers are engaged in the design and delivery of the Acute Data Alignment Programme.

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the launch of the Acute Data Alignment Programme, what measures they plan to introduce to ensure that independent healthcare providers can collect and submit data in the same way as NHS providers.

baroness jolly: To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the launch of the Acute Data Alignment Programme, what measures theyplan to introduce to ensure that GPs are able to view full patient journeys within both the NHS and the independent healthcare sector.

lord o'shaughnessy: Engagement with key stakeholders including independent healthcare providers and organisations who represent such providers will be crucial to the success of the Acute Data Alignment Programme. A communications plan is currently being developed which will identify the timing and method of communication. The Programme will engage relevant stakeholder groups as the work develops.The initial objectives of the Programme will be to understand the issues and potential barriers to aligning the information collected for both National Health Service funded and private patients. This will inform the proposed approach which will be published for open consultation prior to the implementation phase.The Programme is designed to improve alignment between data collection and management across sectors to increase transparency for patients, commissioners, clinicians and the providers themselves. This will include general practitioners.Phase one of the Programme will see co-operation between all parties to accelerate publication of information mandated by the Competition and Markets Authority following its Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014. Phase two will aim to redirect the flow of data for approximately 750,000 privately funded hospital episodes each year to NHS Digital. A public consultation on the scope and objectives will be launched later this year.

Mental Illness: Young People

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to address the rise in mental health issues in teenagers and young people; and what assessment they have made of the use of social media in contributing to this rise.

lord o'shaughnessy: We are making an additional £1.4 billion available in order to transform services, which includes our ambition for an additional 70,000 children and young people a year to receive access to specialist mental health services by 2020/21. Clinical commissioning group (CCG) spending on children and young people’s mental health increased by 20% from £516 million in 2015/16 to £619 million in 2016/17 and the latest refresh of the National Health Service mandate now requires for all CCGs to meet the Mental Health Investment Standard. To build on this, our recent joint health and education Green Paper aims to improve provision of services in schools, bolster links between schools and the NHS and pilot a four week waiting time.In terms of the impact of social media on children and young people’s mental health, evidence has shown links between certain increases in social media use and poorer mental health. However it is not clear whether increased use causes poorer mental health, or whether poorer mental health drives an increase in use of social media.To better understand the relationship between social media use and the mental health of children and young people, the Chief Medical Officer is leading a systematic review in the area. The review will inform a report from the Chief Medical Officer, expected for publication next year.The Department has also commissioned NHS Digital to undertake a Children and Young People’s Mental Health Survey to examine the prevalence of mental disorders. The survey report is planned to include a topic on mental health prevalence in relation to a number of behaviours including social media and cyber-bullying, and is expected for publication in autumn 2018.

Self-harm: Children

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) boys, and (2) girls aged 17 years old or under have been admitted to hospital in England because of (a) self-harm, and (b) self-poisoning in the last ten years compared to the previous ten years.

lord o'shaughnessy: The information is not available in the format requested. However, a table showing a count of finished admission episodes (FAEs) with a first recorded cause code of self-poisoning or self-harm for patients aged under 18 in England from 1997-98 to 2006-07 and 2007-08 to 2016-17 is attached due to the size of the data.The attached data shows an increase in FAEs relating to self-harm in young people over this time period. FAEs show a count of activity rather than people, as a person may be admitted to hospital more than once.However, the increases shown in the data should also be interpreted in the context of improving data collection and reporting and increasing knowledge, awareness of self-harming and empowerment of people to report self-harm.For example, during the time period, the Hospital Episode Statistics dataset has improved the quality of its data and increased its coverage of activity to include the independent sector, which will be factors in the higher activity shown in later years. There have also been improvements in data recording in later years. We have also seen increased self-reporting of self-harm through other data collections such as the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey between 2014 and the previous report in 2007, which would support the assumption of increased knowledge and awareness and less stigma so that people feel more able to report self-harm. 



Self harm and self poisoning admissions
(Word Document, 24.71 KB)

Clinical Reference Groups

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord O'Shaughnessy on 26 June (HL8565), whether they will publish a list of meeting dates and participants for each Clinical Reference Group since 2016.

lord o'shaughnessy: There are five Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs) which fall under the Cancer Programme of Care Board. CRGs provide clinical advice and leadership on the specialised services in cancer. These groups of clinicians, commissioners, public health experts, patients and carers use their specific knowledge and expertise to advise NHS England on the best ways that specialised services should be provided.A list of the participants and meeting dates is attached, due to the size of the data.



Participants and meeting dates CRGs
(Word Document, 26.98 KB)

Haematological Cancer

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord O'Shaughnessy on 26 June (HL8563), whether they will consider conducting an analysis of the number of Individual Funding Requests submitted to the NHS for the treatment of blood cancer.

lord o'shaughnessy: NHS England is responsible for its processes for considering Individual Funding Requests. NHS England has advised that during 2017/18, 1,193 Individual Funding Requests were considered by NHS England and that an analysis of how may related to treatments for blood cancer has not been conducted. Each individual case would have to be reviewed in order to identify which related a blood cancer and NHS England has no plans to carry out such an analysis.

Medical Treatments: Side Effects

the countess of mar: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 4 July (HL8829), what assessment they have made of whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) Yellow Card Scheme includes non-pharmaceutical or medical device treatments; and whether they will make arrangements so that adverse reactions to treatments that are not currently within the remit of the MHRA can be centrally recorded in order to ensure that information on the frequency, severity and duration of adverse reactions to cognitive behaviour therapy, graded exercise and other similar treatments is available.

lord o'shaughnessy: No such assessment has been made and there are currently no plans to broaden the coverage of the Yellow Card Scheme to cover these areas.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for ensuring that medicines, healthcare products and medical equipment meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, performance and effectiveness, and are used safely. The MHRA provides information to doctors and patients to help ensure medicines are used safely. However, the prescribing of any particular medicine and matters of clinical care of the patient remains the responsibility of the doctor/clinician. He or she is in the best position to decide on the type of treatment, which is most appropriate for an individual patient given their clinical expertise and their knowledge of the patient’s medical condition. The MHRA does not regulate clinical practice, collect reports on or investigate allegations of medical malpractice.

Liothyronine

lord hunt of kings heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers byLord O'Shaughnessy on 10 July (HL8980, HL8981, HL8982 and HL8983), what action they are taking to ensure that NHS England makes clear to Clinical Commissioning Groups that the national guidelines on access for patients toLiothyronine (T3) are expected to be fully followed.

lord o'shaughnessy: NHS England has advised that the joint clinical working group has agreed that National Health Service clinical commissioners will reiterate to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) by the end of July 2018 that the intention of the guidance was to end the routine prescription of liothyronine only where it was clinically appropriate to do so.CCGs are accountable to NHS England, which has a key role to ensure that they, as statutory organisations, deliver the best possible services and outcomes for patients within their financial allocation. Where there are concerns about CCGs failing or at risk of failing to discharge its functions, NHS England has the ability to exercise formal powers to either provide an enhanced support to a CCG, or in rare circumstances to intervene. Although the Department ultimately holds NHS England to account for its commissioning activity, including that of CCGs, the Health and Social Care Act 2012 ensures commissioning activity meets the requirements of each local area.

Liothyronine

lord hunt of kings heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord O'Shaughnessy on 4 July (HL8854),why the minutes of the meeting of the Regional Optimisation Committee South held inMay 2018 in relation to the discussion on Liothyronine (T3) have yet to be published.

lord o'shaughnessy: The minutes of the Regional Optimisation Committee South’s meeting in May 2018 are attached.



South-RMOC-minutes-May-2018
(Word Document, 96.25 KB)

The Senior Deputy Speaker

Hereditary Peers: By-elections

lord grocott: To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker how many votes were cast for each candidate in each round of voting in the hereditary peers by-election following the retirement of Lord Glentoran.

lord mcfall of alcluith: In the by-election following Lord Glentoran’s retirement, eight candidates received one or more first-preference votes. At the first count Lord Bethell received over 50% of the total vote. Details of the votes cast for each candidate can be found in the table below.Distribution of votes First-preference votesAbergavenny, M.6Ashcombe, L.2Bethell, L.26Biddulph, L.0De La Warr, E.4Mountgarret, V. (L. Mountgarret)0Napier and Ettrick, L.2Reay, L.1Rowallan, L.0Stockton, E.1Windlesham, L.1VOTES EXCLUDED0TOTAL CONTINUING VOTES43VOTES NEEDED IN ORDER TO BE ELECTED22

Peers' Interests

lord hoyle: To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker,  further to his Written Answer on 6 March (HL5909), in what circumstances would it be necessary for a member to declare their membership of the Freemasons.

lord mcfall of alcluith: The Code of Conduct states that members must declare “any interest which is a relevant interest in the context of the debate or the matter under discussion”. The test of relevant interest is “whether a reasonable member of the public” might think that the “member’s actions in Parliament will be influenced by the interest”. Members must decide whether to declare an interest on a case-by-case basis. The Registrar of Lords’ Interests is available to advise in case of doubt, and a member who acts on the Registrar’s advice in determining what is a relevant interest fully satisfies the requirements of the Code of Conduct in that regard.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Social Rented Housing: Construction

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many homes designated for social rent were built each year from 2010 until the last year records are available; and how this compares to homesdesignated for other purposes.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: These are published statistics and are in the public domain on the gov.uk website.The number of new built additional dwelling for social rent up to 2016-17 by year can be found in Live Table 1009. It shows there were nearly 117,000 new built additional dwelling for social rent between 2010-11 and 2016-17.The Department also publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply. This shows 997,000 additional homes have been built between 2010-11 and 2016-17.

Urban Areas

lord kennedy of southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the second review by Bill Grimsey on the British high street.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: The Minister for High Streets, Jake Berry MP, has met with Mr Grimsey and members of his team to discuss his review.This Government recognises that high streets face challenges. That is why we have assembled an expert panel to diagnose the issues that currently affect the health of our high streets and advise on the best practical measures to help them thrive now and in the future.Later this summer the Department, in conjunction with the expert panel, we will put out a call for evidence seeking what members of the public and young people in particular want from the high streets of the future. The panel, chaired by Sir John Timpson, will consider the Grimsey Review as part of its evidence review.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Children

lord bassam of brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bates on 16 July (HL9124), whether they will now provide an estimate of the number of working families with two children or more currently using foodbanks following reductions in benefit entitlement or delays in benefit payments.

baroness buscombe: We do not record the number of people using foodbanks or other types of food aid. [Some food aid providers, such as the Trussell Trust, produce statistics on the number of food parcels distributed.]

Department for Work and Pensions: Reviews

lord watts: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many independent reviews theDepartment for Work and Pensions has commissioned into its policy or administration over the last year; and what was the total cost of those reviews.

baroness buscombe: The Department does not hold this information.

Home Office

Immigration Bail

baroness hamwee: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 14 June (HL Deb, col 1803), whether the check to ensure that no one is now having study restrictions placed on them inappropriately by means of an immigration bail condition has been completed; and if not, when will it be completed.

baroness hamwee: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 14 June (HL Deb, col 1803), (1) what is the outcome of the check to ensure that no one is now having study restrictions placed on them inappropriately by means of an immigration bail condition; (2) what were the categories of people on whom restrictions were imposed; (3) on how many people were restrictions inappropriately imposed in each of those categories; and (4) what steps have been taken in respect of individuals on whom restrictions were inappropriately imposed.

baroness williams of trafford: The Home Office completed the checks to ensure that no one has had a study restriction imposed, as part of their bail restrictions, inappropriately, by 31 May. Furthermore, the Home Office has implemented ongoing safeguards to ensure that study restrictions are only imposed where appropriate.We do not hold detailed information on all categories of persons who were incorrectly given this restriction, but the largest category of cases were asylum seekers who had not exhausted their appeal rights.Provisional management information indicates that over 4,000 people have had their bail restriction on study varied in May 2018, although it should be noted that it is not possible to distinguish the exact nature of the variation that was applied to their bail conditions. We believe we have issued new bail notices to all those affected to reflect this variation, but will look at any new case brought to our attention.

Immigration Controls: Heathrow Airport

lord rosser: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the number of instances of non-EEA nationals taking longer to clear immigration at Heathrow airport than the Border Force’s service level agreement of within 45 minutes has increased since 2016; if so, what are the reasons for any such increase; and what correlation, if any, there is between any such increase and any increase in numbers of passengers at Heathrow.

baroness williams of trafford: We expect there to be a record number of passenger arrivals at Heathrow this summer. Within the overall growth picture, non-EEA summer arrivals have increased almost 30% in the last 3 years. The vast majority of non-EEA passengers are unable to use e-gates, although we continue to promote Registered Traveller and other premium schemes. Non-EEA nationals typically take at least three times the length of time to process at the border compared with an EEA equivalent.Both the increasing number of passengers and the changing balance between EEA and non-EEA passengers impacts on Border Force capacity to process all passengers at the border within service standards. There are times that, even operating at full capacity with all the passport control points open, Border Force will be physically unable to meet service standards of 25mins for EEA and 45min for non-EEA nationals for all arriving passengers.Border Force is however taking a number of steps to ensure passengers are dealt with quickly, including through investment in technology and maximising available staff at the busiest times of the day.

Immigration Controls: Heathrow Airport

lord rosser: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times in each terminal at Heathrow airport non-EEA nationals have taken longer to clear immigration at Heathrow airport than set out in the Border Force’s service level agreement in the first six months of 2018; and what steps they are taking to ensure the Border Force adheres to its service level agreements.

baroness williams of trafford: During the first six months of 2018, fewer than 5% of non-EEA passengers arriving at Heathrow airport, experienced delays exceeding service level agreement. The vast majority of non-EEA passengers are unable to use e-gates, although we continue to promote Registered Traveller and other premium schemes.Heathrow publish performance data on SLAs for EEA and non-EEA passengers, which can be accessed via this link:www.heathrow.com/company/company-news-and-information/performance/airport-operations/border-forceWe recognise that Heathrow is a unique entry point to the UK and are working with Heathrow Airport Limited and other stakeholders on queue issues. Border Force is maximising staff available at the busiest times of day, increasing the number of border officers on e-gates, and deploying 220 additional staff over summer, mostly at Heathrow.Border Force is working closely with airlines and airport operators to try to ensure Border Force receive accurate forecasts and that issues are identified in advance.

Immigration Controls: Heathrow Airport

lord rosser: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they take when the Border Force is unable to adhere to its service level agreement for non-EEA nationals to clear immigration at Heathrow airport within 45 minutes; and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of such service level agreements to ensuring the Border Force operates to the standards they expect.

baroness williams of trafford: Border Force has taken a number of steps to help make the customer journey as smooth as possible while continuing to protect and secure the border. This includes providing additional proactive planning alongside the airport operators and airlines, and new passenger-facing communications tools that are designed to promote faster ways to travel.Border Force is maximising staff available at the busiest times of day, increasing the number of border officers on e-gates, and deploying 220 additional staff over summer, mostly at Heathrow. Earlier this year, Border Force launched a nationwide campaign to recruit up to 1,000 Border Force officers. Border Force is also working closely with airlines and airport operators to ensure Border Force receives accurate forecasts and that issues are identified in advance. This includes close day-to-day interaction at a working level.Border Force performance against Service Level Agreements is kept under review and Border Force is directly accountable to the Home Office Permanent Secretary and the Home Secretary

Immigration Controls: Heathrow Airport

lord rosser: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the introduction of eGates at Heathrow airport has reduced the frequency with which non-EEA nationals clearing immigration takes longer than the Border Force’s service level agreement of within 45 minutes; and how many eGates are (1) installed, and (2) in use on average each day.

baroness williams of trafford: There are now 254 eGates in operation at 22 terminals around the UK and juxtaposed locations. Border Force opens eGates to match the demand at the time; not all eGates are open 24/7. Over 47.9m passengers nationally used the ePassport Gates in 2017/18, which represents nearly 70% of eligible passengers. This is a 41% increase in usage compared to 2016/17.At Heathrow the breakdown of the ePassport gates is as follows;There are a total of 69 ePassport gates across the 4 Heathrow terminals:Terminal 2 = 15Terminal 3 = 15Terminal 4 = 10Terminal 5 = 24 in main arrivals hall and 5 in International/Domestic Transfer area.An average of 1 million passengers use the eGates every month, across Heathrow, which is on average 79.4% of the total number of passengers who are eligible.Users of the ePassport Gates routinely wait less than 5 minutes, and the ePassport gates themselves are opened and closed to best suit passenger demand. This means that officers can be re-deployed to process those passengers, including non EEA nationals, who are ineligible to use the ePassport gates. This would have a positive impact on the SLA of 45 minutes for non EEA nationals.

Immigration Controls: Heathrow Airport

lord rosser: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations, if any, they have received from (1) Heathrow airport, and (2) the airlines affected about the costs they incur due to the Border Force not meeting its service level agreement of clearing non-EEA nationals through immigration within 45 minutes.

baroness williams of trafford: Border Force engages with key partners including Heathrow Airport Limited and major airlines to discuss a range of issues including SLA performance and subsequent issues that arise.For example, Border Force Heathrow senior management meet routinely with key stakeholders such as Heathrow Airport and airlines focussing on summer resource planning and passenger experience.With passenger volumes rising, it is clear that Government, ports and airlines will need to work jointly to take a more strategic approach to this issue, for example, by reviewing the cohorts that are able to use automated ePassport Gates, as well as consideration given to alternative funding mechanisms at the Border, as published in the HMG interim response to the Aviation Strategy consultation.

L'Arche: Visas

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will reconsider the decision of the UK Visa Agency to suspend the licence of the charity, L’Arche, to sponsor international visa applicants under the rules for Tier 5 visas for Temporary Charity Workers.

baroness williams of trafford: The Home Office is considering the status of the charity’s sponsor licence following receipt of their suspension representations and L’Arche will be notified of the outcome in due course.

Asylum: Interviews

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what safeguards they plan to put in place to ensure that any poor interpreting and poor interview practices do not adversely affect individual asylum claims.

baroness williams of trafford: All asylum interviews are carried out by an impartial interviewing officer.All interpreters engaged by the Home Office must demonstrate they have the required skills and qualifications. They are also bound by a “Code of Conduct” to ensure minimum standards for interpreting and behaviour. Home Office policy and guidance ensures that in the event of interpreters or interviews falling short of those standards, it would not adversely affect an individual’s asylum claim.Interviewing Officers are encouraged to provide feedback on the performance of interpreters, using specifically designed monitoring forms. Interviews may also be monitored for training and security purposes. Increased use of technologies, such as interviewing by video conferencing facilities, are being trialled to increase efficiency and transform the asylum process. Currently the majority of interviews are conducted face to face.We have recently introduced digital interviewing capability across the asylum casework operational as part of the wider Home Office digital transformation programme, which aims for the department to become ‘digital by default’. We are aiming to digitally record all asylum interviews and provide claimants and their legal representative with a digital recording of their interview in addition to a written transcript. Claimants who do not want their interview to be audio recorded and provide reasonable explanation for this will be exempt from the recording requirement.

Asylum: Interviews

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to audio-record all substantive asylum interviews.

baroness williams of trafford: All asylum interviews are carried out by an impartial interviewing officer. All interpreters engaged by the Home Office must demonstrate they have the required skills and qualifications. They are also bound by a “Code of Conduct” to ensure minimum standards for interpreting and behaviour.Home Office policy and guidance ensures that in the event of interpreters or interviews falling short of those standards, it would not adversely affect an individual’s asylum claim. Interviewing Officers are encouraged to provide feedback on the performance of interpreters, using specifically designed monitoring forms. Interviews may also be monitored for training and security purposes.Increased use of technologies, such as interviewing by video conferencing facilities, are being trialled to increase efficiency and transform the asylum process. Currently the majority of interviews are conducted face to face.We have recently introduced digital interviewing capability across the asylum casework operational as part of the wider Home Office digital transformation programme, which aims for the department to become ‘digital by default’. We are aiming to digitally record all asylum interviews and provide claimants and their legal representative with a digital recording of their interview in addition to a written transcript. Claimants who do not want their interview to be audio recorded and provide reasonable explanation for this will be exempt from the recording requirement.

Airwave Service

lord arbuthnot of edrom: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 25 June (HL8482), what provisions are in place to ensure that the electric relays of the fibre networks to which Airwave sites are connected would continue to work during a prolonged power outage.

baroness williams of trafford: The Airwave service was designed to continue to operate in the event of an extended power outage. Extensive audits of the circuits were undertaken during the commissioning of the service to ensure that the network equipment, eg relays, between the exchanges and the base stations were able to operate in the event of a mains electricity failure.

Immigration: Children and Young People

lord teverson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on children and young people subject to immigration control of the increasing cost of limited leave to remain application fees.

baroness williams of trafford: Assessments of the impact of visa and immigration fee increases are published along-side the appropriate Statutory Instruments. The most recent relevant assessments can be found via the following links:http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2016/10/pdfs/ukia_20160010_en.pdfhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/330/impactsExemptions are available for vulnerable groups such as children in local authority care. In addition, applicants for leave and further leave to remain on specified human rights grounds may be granted a fee waiver if they are destitute or face destitution, or for reasons relating to the welfare of a child.



UKIA - Legislation 2016
(PDF Document, 377.7 KB)

Immigrants: Health Services

lord teverson: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they willintroduce the 100per cent increase in the immigration health surcharge announced in February; and whether, before introducing that increase, they will publish a Children's Rights Impact Assessment of the likely impact on children subject to immigration control currently living in the UK who will need to apply for or renew their leave to remain.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government intends to introduce the change later this year. A full impact assessment will be published alongside the draft Order to be made under section 38 of the Immigration Act 2014.The Immigration (Health Charge) Order 2015 provides clear exemptions from the requirement to pay the surcharge that are designed to protect vulnerable groups. These include an exemption for applications for leave to remain made by a child under the age of 18 where that child is being looked after by a local authority, an exemption for applications that relate to a claim for asylum or humanitarian protection and an exemption for victims of modern slavery.These exemptions will be retained under the amended version of the Order. In addition, where an applicant qualifies for a visa fee waiver on destitution grounds, the surcharge is also waived.

Refugees: Syria

the lord bishop of coventry: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of why the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has referred so few Christians, Yazidis and other Syrian religious minorities for resettlement in the UK; whether any members of those minorities were resettled in the UK in the first quarter of 2018; and if not, why not.

baroness williams of trafford: In resettlement, the UK works according to the humanitarian principles of impartiality and neutrality which means that we do not take into consideration the ethno-religious origins of people requiring assistance as we resettle solely on the basis of needs, identified by UNHCR through their established submission categories.We believe that one way to protect the privacy of those being resettled and ensure their recovery and integration is to limit the amount of information about them that we make publicly available. We therefore do not believe it is appropriate to publish a religious and ethnic breakdown of those who have been resettled.

Visas: Grenfell Tower Inquiry

baroness hamwee: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether visas have been issued to members of families of Grenfell Tower fire victims attending the Grenfell Tower Inquiry that are limited to a period shorter than the expected length of that Inquiry; and, if so why.

baroness williams of trafford: We will do everything we can to support the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry and enable Core Participants to attend. Where attendance at the Inquiry is raised, visas have been issued, including outside of the Immigration Rules, for periods of up to six months.The Grenfell relatives’ policy introduced on 11 October 2017, was extended on 26 June to allow family members of victims or survivors with Core Participant status or who are called to give evidence, to extend their stay for further six-month periods. This is to allow relatives to remain at least until the anticipated close of the Inquiry oral evidence sessions.Relatives who do not have CP status, or who wish to apply for a longer period of stay, may wish to consider whether they meet the requirements of existing published policies to come to or remain in the UK.

Asylum: Finance

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government how long it takes for anasylum seeker to receive a decision on their application for section 4 support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; if successful in their application, how soon they should receive that support; and what is the average time taken(1) to decide an application for section 4 support, and (2) for payment to be made.

baroness williams of trafford: The Home Office has a range of measures for processing asylum support applications depending on the nature of the application being made. Access to accommodation and subsistence payments is provided once suitable accommodation is sourced and eligibility confirmed. Currently information on processing times is not recorded in a format suitable for publication and there are no plans to publish such statistics at this time.The Home Office is continuing to work with the National Asylum Stakeholder Forum to consider what further information could be made publicly available once the new IT system for asylum support casework has been fully implemented later this year.

Cabinet Office

Subversion: Russia

lord rennard: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to work with other countries to prevent Russian influence from undermining democratic principles including by (1) providing funding to influence electoral outcomes significantly, (2) establishing social media accounts which disguise their real origin, and (3) promoting fake news, including relating to the attempted murder of their opponents on British soil.

lord young of cookham: We are committed to defending the UK from all forms of malign foreign state interference, whether from Russia or any other state. This includes working with international partners where appropriate. As part of our response, the UK agreed at the 2018 G7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada to work with other G7 members on defending democracy from foreign threats. The Electoral Commission is the independent regulatory body responsible for ensuring that elections are run effectively and in accordance with the law. There is also legislation in place to prevent foreign money being used to finance campaigning at UK elections. It is for the Electoral Commission to investigate any breaches of this legislation. A copy of the Charlevoix commitment is attached. 



Charlevoix commitment
(PDF Document, 857.72 KB)

Treasury

Pensions: Fees and Charges

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of theFinancial Conduct Authority's (FCA) conclusion that people could be paying too much in charges to access their pensions early; and whether they support the proposal by the FCA for pension providers to send "wake-up" packs to their customers at the age of 50 and for every five years after that until they access their pension.

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will consider a charge cap on pension drawdowns.

lord bates: The government thinks it is important that there is a competitive, innovative retirement income market and that customers are treated fairly and benefit from appropriate protections. However, it also recognises that the retirement income market continues to evolve. We welcome the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s Retirement Outcomes Review, and support the FCA’s work to enable consumers to be better informed and able to make decisions on how to manage their retirement income. The FCA is considering changes to make charges more transparent and comparable to help consumers shop around and switch providers if appropriate. It expects the market to deliver competitive charges for all drawdown solutions and has said it will take action if it does not. We look forward to working with the FCA and industry on the next steps of the review, including the FCA’s consideration of any potential charge cap.

Pensions

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people under 65 years old have accessed their pensions in each year since 2015; and of those, how many were accessed through (1) a pension drawdown, and (2) an annuity.

lord bates: The government does not hold information on access to pensions in this format. The Financial Conduct Authority’s Retirement Outcomes Review[1] collected retirement income data from 56 pension providers. From the providers surveyed, it found that the following products had been purchased by consumers under age 65 accessing their defined contribution pot for the first time: YearAnnuitiesDrawdownOct 2015 – Sept 201682,391163,632Oct 2016 – Sept 201770,452181,633  [1] https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/market-studies/ms16-1-3.pdf

Pensions: Fees and Charges

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total costs to consumers of charges made for early access to pensions since the age limit was lowered to 55 in 2015.

lord bates: The government does not hold this information in this format. After the pension freedoms were introduced, some consumers were facing early exit charges of 5% or more of the fund value. Consequently, the government legislated for the FCA to introduce a cap on early exit charges. We estimated that the 1% cap introduced by the FCA would lead to savings for consumers of £42.7m between 2017 and 2020. In its Retirement Outcomes Review, the FCA found that the average total charges faced by non-advised consumers with drawdown products ranged from 0.4 to 1.6%. We look forward to working with the FCA and industry on the next steps of the review, including the FCA’s consideration of any potential charge cap.

Cryptoassets Taskforce

lord mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Bates on 25 June (HL8505),how many times the Cryptoassets Taskforce has met; whether they will publish a list of meeting dates and participants; and whether any report by the the Taskforce will be published.

lord bates: The first meeting of the Cryptoassets Taskforce was held on May 21st, and attended by senior leaders from government and the financial regulators, including the Director General of Financial Services at HM Treasury, the Deputy Governor (Markets and Banking) of the Bank of England, and the Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority.[1]Treasury officials continue to meet with the financial regulators on a regular basis and are working closely together. Officials are also engaging with industry stakeholders and international counterparts, and will hold an industry roundtable in July. The Taskforce will publish a report in September.Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis.[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cryptoassets-taskforce-meets-for-the-first-time

Financial Services: Computer Software

baroness kramer: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the consequences for accountability including under data protection legislation of the use by banks and other financial services providers of the Symphony suite of software, which allows for the instant and permanent deletion of email files.

lord bates: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not directly regulate the activities of Symphony Communication Services LLC or any other electronic messaging platform. However, firms that are authorised by the FCA who use messaging services such as Symphony are subject to a range of applicable requirements, including the recording and storage of such tapes and electronic communications. MiFID II extended the UK’s existing record keeping requirements for telephone conversations and electronic communications from six months to a minimum of five years (this change came in on 3 January 2018). This will give the FCA an enhanced ability to investigate historic concerns. With regards to firms’ compliance with data protection legislation, it is the responsibility of the Information Commissioner to regulate compliance with the Data Protection Act. The Commissioner may act on complaints about companies which are not complying with the law.